


I Bet My Life

by TheDelightfulRogue (Backwardsmuffin)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Childhood, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slow Build, Weechesters, Young Dean, angel!cas - Freeform, kid!Dean, young cas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2018-02-26 08:20:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2644823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Backwardsmuffin/pseuds/TheDelightfulRogue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When an accident takes the life of 4 year old Castiel, it seems to be not just his own mistake, but a monumental cock up in Heaven as well.<br/>As a result of this, Cas is given a temporary stay as an angel, to live out his lost years, rather than simply moving straight on.<br/>He is placed as the guardian of his childhood friend Dean, who as time passes, slowly forgets Cas. The problem being, when you're a freaky hybrid angel creature,who's only purpose is now to care for one person...you can hardly forget them yourself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**A/N: The name of his fic comes from the song by the same name. Because holy shit Imagine Dragons songs man. These things are pure gold for fic inspiration.**

***

It had been a long morning for Castiel.

Time seemed to be stuck in slow motion as he waited and waited for his mom to let him out.

He was going to Dean’s house today.  His mommy had said he could make cookies the day before and take them over to his friends the next day, so long as he promised to share them with Miss Mary and Mister John. He had asked about Sammy, but apparently babies can’t eat cookies. Which clearly meant babies did not in fact, ‘have it easier’, as Dean kept saying. Because they couldn’t eat the tasty food, which in Castiel’s opinion did not balance out not having to tidy up after themselves.

His mommy was on the phone to Miss Mary at that very moment, and Castiel couldn’t stop himself from staring out the window over at Dean’s house across the street.

He wanted to go and play now.

He bobbed up and down, trying to catch a peak of Dean himself in any of the other house’s windows. It was quite far away, but Castiel had just had been given new glasses by the eye doctor, who told him how well he could seen now, so he wasn’t worried.  

All he was worried about, was that his mommy would take so long it would be dark, and he wouldn’t be able to see Dean at all.

He clutched the box of cookies in one hand and used the other to push the glasses back up his nose as they slipped on a particularly vicious bounce. They were thick rimmed things, black and square and they felt really weird on Cas’s nose, but his mommy and daddy said he couldn’t take them off unless it was bath or bedtime. But Dean had said he looked cool in them so Cas was pretty sure they were worth it, especially as now the other boy didn’t tease him for squinting so much now.

Though regardless of any well meant mocking, Castiel was still utterly sure that he wouldn’t trade Dean’s friendship for anything.

***

It had been a long day for John Winchester too.

4 years old.

4 damn years old and already John Winchester was struggling to keep up with his oldest son.

The boy was running rampant around a pile of freshly mown grass, staining his trousers a horrendous shade of green as John stood powerless to stop him.

‘Look Sammy’, the boy cried to the baby sat in his swing a few meters away. ‘I’m a race car look.’  He rumbled his voice in an impression of an engine and set off again, ploughing across the grass and sending it flying everywhere again.

John sighed, and grabbed his rake up off the ground again, a rueful smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.

It had been a long morning.

But he wouldn’t trade it for anything.

***

It wasn’t Mary Winchesters dream to live in the small town of Lawrence, Kansas. Far from it in fact. 

As a girl she had long dreamed of a house on the coast. A beachfront property, with sand and sea and sun all around. Where she could recline lazily in the afternoon rays, a chilled drink cooling her as she sipped and watched her husband and children – 3 she had imagined, 2 boys and a girl – play in the surf.

But life doesn’t always turn out the way you want it to.

She didn’t get the house.

Or the beach.

Or the daughter, as it turned out.

Though from where she sat, she could still see her husband and sons playing together, but not in the warm Californian surf. Rather, in a rather damp pile of grass that John had just mown.

Yet somehow the day still seemed just as beautiful as that long lost dream. And she knew she wouldn’t trade it for anything.

***

15 minutes later and his mother had finished on the phone, and Cas felt like an eternity had passed. But apparently Dean and his father had finished in the garden now, so Cas could come over and deliver his cookies.

He stood anxiously by the front door, huffing with impatience as his mother put her shoes on.

‘Have you got everything sweetie?’ His mother asked, standing up and grabbing her bag from where it hung on the banister.

Castiel nodded ‘Yup.’ He said.

‘Are you sure? Socks, shoes and sweater?’

‘Yeees.’ Cas groaned. ‘Mommy please can we go?’

‘Have you got your glasses?’

‘Mooommy. They are on my face! I can’t forget them.’

His mother laughed and ruffled his hair as she opened the door. ‘I know bumblebee. I was just teasing. Come on, I know you’ll want to give Dean his cookies.’

Cas grinned and shot out the door past his mother, cookie box in one hand as the other held his glasses tightly to his face.

As he reached the gate he looked up and saw Dean stood across the road, his arms waving wildly in the air.

‘Cas.’ The other boy cried out. ‘Come and play. Hurry up!’

The smile on Castiel’s face grew impossibly wider as he fumbled with the gate latch. He needed to get to Dean now.

He heard the satisfying ker-thunk, of the latch coming free, and quickly shoved the gate out of his way, hearing it slam back with a loud clang.

Unfortunately...the clang seemed to mask the other loud sound that rang out as Cas’s feet hit the tarmac road.

That of both his mother and Dean yelling out again.

The simultaneously ‘Cas, No’ and ‘Stop!’ falling on deaf ears.

.

.

.

Castiel never saw the car.

But he sure felt it.

***

There was a flash.

The brightest light Castiel had ever seen in his life- like a thousand bulbs exploding in front of his eyes – leaving him reeling and struggling to see. Everything was a swirl of colours and sounds and Cas was so so scared.  There was an unbearable pain coursing through him and it hurt so much and he just wanted it to stop, hot tears fought to escape but wouldn’t fall and Cas couldn’t breathe and he tried to reach out but he couldn’t feel anything and his arm refused to move and he wanted his mommy and his daddy and Dean, he wanted Dean and he screamed.

***

SLAM!

Castiel felt himself landing on something hard – yet strangely soft at the same time.  The colours and sounds had gone, and so too had the pain, but Cas was scared to open his eyes.

He was laying down and quickly curled up into a ball as tight as he could as if nothing could reach him if he made himself as small as possible.

He swallowed roughly and sucked in a harsh breath, relieved to find he could once again feel the oxygen rushing into his lungs.

He gulped down mouthfuls of air as quickly as he could, scared that at any moment it could vanish again and he’d be left suffocating.

He could barely hear anything over the sound of his ragged breathes, until suddenly a voice echoed out, and Castiel froze.

‘Hey there buddy.’ said the voice, deep, but not as deep as his daddy’s was. ‘You ok?’

Castiel’s eyes shot open to find a small blonde man crouched before him, his face not a foot from Cas’s own.

Cas screamed, and leapt up, scrabbling back on his bum till his back hit something cold – a wall. And oh no, oh no, oh no, he was trapped again and suddenly it was getting harder to breathe and he was so so scared and-

‘Hey, hey, hey.’ The man startled too, reaching out to Cas, but pulling his arm back just as quickly when he sees the boy jerk away. ‘It’s ok there little guy, I’m not here to hurt you. You need to breathe there buddy. Nice and slow ok’

Castiel’s breaths stammered slightly, but the air kept coming. He narrowed his eyes, glaring at the man and sniffling, still shaking as he tried to get his breathing under control.

‘My names Gabriel.’ The man spoke again, sitting himself down on the floor but moving no closer to Castiel.  ‘I know everything’s a bit scary right now, but you need to calm down a little ok, so I can explain what’s going on.’

Castiel said nothing, but after a few moments uncurled himself, sitting up so he mirrored the man’s pose. Whilst he knew he should feel scared by this stranger, there was something within him telling him not to be. A smooth wash of warmth emanating within him crying ‘safe, safe, safe.’ The feeling seemed to grow the more he looked at the man. But Cas slowly felt the worry seep from him as his breaths finally slowed to a regular pace.

His breathing gradually slowed down to a controllable level, and his chest sagged down, leaving him feeling rather tired all of a sudden.

‘You alright now?’ Gabriel asked, and Castiel nodded.

‘Cracking stuff.’ Castiel tilted his head in confusion, nothing appeared to be broken, but Gabriel continued. 

‘Let’s get comfortable first. You know my name, so it’s only fair I get to know yours.’

‘C-Castiel.’he replies, voice small and shaky with nerves.

‘Ooh, fancy.’ Gabriel replies. ‘Castiel what?’

‘Novak, Sir.’ Cas says, ‘Castiel Novak.’

At that, Gabriel frowns, whipping a small pad of paper out of his pocket and whipping through a list of something, his frown deepening when he doesn’t appear to find what he’s looking for.  ‘The fuck?’ he mutters, and luckily, Castiel doesn’t catch the swear, and the man’s smile snaps back onto his face.

‘Ok Castiel, so...you see this room?’ Cas nodded. ‘This room here is what we call The Station, because it’s where everyone travels to, and gets dropped off.’

Castiel had never been to a station before. He’s seen them on TV but his mommy said that they were only for people going far away. He hopes he’s not too far away from his mommy right now.

 ‘But this is a special kind of station.’ Gabriel continued. ‘ Instead of it being a place you go to a lot, when you go on holiday or to a big city, you just go here once ok? For your final journey.’

Castiel looked up at the man and his eyes go wide. ‘Final?’ That wasn’t a good word. Final was something mommy used as a warning when he was being bad. (‘For the final time Castiel, go to bed!’)  ‘But how do I go home?’

Gabriel’s expression slid a little at the boys words, his smile slipping away momentarily before it quickly snaps back.  ‘That’s the thing kiddo. From this Station, you can’t go home.’ If possible, the little boys eyes went even wider, the bright blue staring right at Gabriel as terror blossomed within them. He tried to backtrack quickly.

‘But you go to a new home instead. So it’s not really very bad at all, see?’

Cas doesn’t really see, and Gabriel knows it and tries a new angle.

‘You ever been to church?’ he asked, and the fear in the young boys eyes subsides somewhat. He liked church. They had singing and music and once a month they had cake brought in by Miss Maggie.

‘Great’ Gabriel replied, this should make his job slightly easier. ‘So, you heard about Heaven then?’

Again Cas nodded. ‘It’s where Mister and Mrs Krewinski went.’ He said proudly. ‘Daddy said it was because they were old and it was their time to meet God.’

‘Kinda.’ Gabriel replied. ‘When a person gets old or sick or gets in an accident, their body can’t always handle it, and so it stops working. When this happens, you call it dying.’

Cas nodded. He’d heard people talk about that before.

‘So this Station, the place you are now. This is where people come when the die, and then we take them to Heaven.’

Cas’s brow crinkled. ‘Are you God?’ he asked, voice far too serious for a boy his age and Gabriel snorts.

‘Not quite kiddo’ he replied, ‘but I am an Angel.’

‘Are you here to take me to heaven?’

‘Technically yes....only...there seems to be something a wee bit a miss.’ Gabriel grabbed his notepad again and flipped through once more.   ‘It’s just that normally we have a list of those who’ll be arriving at The Station each day, so we know to prepare and...geeze, you are young aren’t you. How old are you?’

‘Four’ Castiel replied, his voice small and a little shaky.

‘Shit.’ Castiel gasped at the swear coming from the angel. ‘Four, really? Ok. That is actually ridiculous. You don’t just reap kids like that. Not unless they’re due something even more hideous in the future. You don’t have cancer or anything do you?’

Cas just looked confused.

‘Leukaemia, or something. Did they hook you up to a load of machines, hospitals and beepy machines and doctors dressed like batman. Or was it something else? Measles, Meningitis, OI, HIV?’

Castiel shook his head. He doesn’t even know what any of those are, let alone whether he has them.

‘Damn. That’s not right.’

Castiel looked even more confused, blue eyes blazing, and Gabriel sighed, hand coming up to run through his hair.

 ‘See, Castiel....you’re not on the list for people arriving today.’

Cas blinked

‘So you aren’t really meant to be here.’

Another blink, and Gabriel swallows.

‘Which means....well, I’m pretty sure it means.... You, Castiel Novak, aren’t meant to be dead.’

***

**A/N: TBC...**


	2. Chapter 1

‘We can’t just send him back Gabriel’ Cas heard the taller man say.

He had arrived not too long ago, just zapping into the room as if by magic, two huge ivory wings tucking into his back as he stepped forward, observing Castiel carefully.

Cas himself had been in the room for around an hour now, just sitting there as Gabriel paced back and forth, talking into a small headset style thing he had again, just pulled from a pocket in robes. They hadn’t spoken much. Cas still feeling  little too overwhelmed to make sense of what Gabriel was saying, and Gabriel a little too overwhelmed at what appeared to be an absolutely monumental cock-up on Heavens front to try and explain further – especially to a four year old.

‘And why the hell not Balthazar?’ Gabriel responded, irritation in his voice. ‘I’m a damn archangel for fucks sake.’

‘Language Brother.’

‘No don’t give me that Brother crap. I’ll say what I damn well want. This kid is **_not meant to be dead!!_  **I checked his records and there was no abuse, no cancer, no muscle rotting shit, no paralysis. Literally nothing lined up for his future that would cause him to be reaped early.  He’s meant to live for God’s sake, and whatever the fuck your department is responsible for has majorly pissed up in that respect, so you need to fucking fix it.’

‘Gabriel, your blasphemy shan’t earn you any favour with our father if you wish to resolve this matter. Not that there is much you can do now anyway-‘

‘Why do you keep saying that? You _have_ to do _something!_ We can’t just _leave him!_ ’ Gabriel cried, pure rage dripping from every word.  ‘I tried to explain shit to him, but this kid is four years old Balth, _four!_ He’s too young for any of this.’

‘Four year olds die all the time Gabriel, he is no different.’

‘But he is. Because he is **NOT MEANT TO BE DEAD.’**

***

This argument had been going on for ages Castiel thought, and he hated when people argued.

Mommy and Daddy argued sometimes and Cas would always hide in his room whenever he heard the shouting. It was scary sometimes, especially when they got really loud, like Gabriel was now. Cas scrunched his eyes shut and covered his ears with his hands like he did at home, trying to block out the sound. He began to rock himself back and forth slowly, though the gentle pulse of his movement did little to sooth him.

‘Gabriel. Regardless of whether it was meant to happen, it has happened and there is nothing we can do about it now. This is my department, and I know more than anyone about what we can and cannot do. You being an archangel has no impact on the limitations in place for those after-death. Ok? ‘

‘Then what the hell am I supposed to do with him? I didn’t sign up for this shit when I agreed to help you. I’m the messenger of God, for fucks sake.’

‘Gabriel please calm down so I can explain what needs to happ-‘

‘Calm down. I will **_Not Calm Down._** You need to fix this now Balthazar. Don’t make me smite you. You know I will.’

***

Castiel sniffled slightly from his position against the wall. The pulsing warmth of ‘s _afe, safe, safe’_ was dimming now and fear was creeping back in. He could feel his eyes begin to well and he hugged his knees up tighter to his chest.

‘There’s nothing we can do. Time on earth passes differently to the station. It’s not like the main core of heaven Gabe. You should know this.’

‘You know I’m only here as a favour Balthazar. This is hardly my area of expertise. All I know is that if you can magically zap people dead, then you should be damn well able to zap them back to life.’

Castiel felt himself start to shake as Gabriel's rage seemed to project itself out, causing the floors and walls to rumble slightly. This was getting worse and worse and he didn’t know how to make it stop.

‘That’s not the problem here Gabe.’

‘Then what **IS**?’

‘Gabriel please.’ Balthazar pressed, glancing over at Castiel’s hunched form. ‘You’re scaring the kid.’

At that Gabriel's mouth stuttered shut, and his head jerked round to look down at the young boy, who did indeed look terrified, his whole body curled back in on itself, a mimic of when he first arrived. His cheeks were flushed red and dribble of snot he hadn’t managed to sniff away, had begun to trickle down towards his mouth.

Everything seemed to slam to a halt. The walls and floors stopped shaking, Balthazar stopped speaking and Gabriel himself felt his breath catch in his throat.

 The silence in the room was tangible.

A split second later and Gabriel had rushed over to Castiel, scooping the little boy up into his arms and cradling his head into the crook of his neck. Castiel’s arms immediately latched onto Gabriel's chest and he sniffled again.

‘Hey buddy.’ Gabriel cooed, stroking a hand through the boy’s scraggly hair. ‘I’m sorry for scaring you. I just got a bit out of control ok.’

Castiel just sniffed again, head still hidden in Gabriel's neck.

‘I just want to do what’s best for you ok? And it’s a little bit tricky to work out what that is at the moment.’

Castiel pressed himself closer into the older man’s body, hugging him tight like a teddy bear. That warm, safe feeling was beginning to return and Castiel clung to it desperately, begging the shouting and arguing to stop for good now.

***

Balthazar prodded Gabriel with a finger, keeping his eyes focused on Cas and hissed, ‘He’s been here what...an hour?’

‘About. But what has that-‘

‘On earth, that means 3 days will have passed. It’s a defence mechanism we have against temporary passings. Not this kind of thing, but those in comas, or severe accidents, who die momentarily then suddenly return to life; saves checking all the lists. We slow time down here to ensure the person is truly dead before we move them on – but we don’t want to have to wait days to do so, hence time change. If he’d ‘zapped’ out of here as you so righteously put it, then no, he wouldn’t be dead, and the doctors on earth could have saved him. As it is, he is 100% deceased. And there’s nothing to be done.’

‘Gone. Finito, Pooft, He is no more. He is an ex person. Is that what you mean?’

‘It’s exactly what I mean. And to be honest, it would be far more traumatising for both the kid and his family for his body to ‘zap back to life’ in the middle of a morgue or funeral home. Especially if, as I suspect, he’s due for cremation or burial any time now.’

‘Wha-‘

’20 minutes Gabe. That’s one earth day. They won’t keep his body above ground for more than an hour or so more here. And we don’t have enough time to formulate anyway to send him back in that time. I’m sorry. But he’s going to have to stay up here with us.’

At this, Cas seemed to startle. Both the angels flinched, not having realised their voices had become louder.

 ‘I-I’ Cas stuttered, pulling his head up just a smidgen, ‘I just wanna go home. Please can I go home?’

Gabriel swallowed roughly, blinking slowly before turning his head to glare at Balthazar, mouthing ‘explain’ through gritted teeth.

Balthazar sighed and stepped closer, until he was standing alongside Gabriel, not touching the young boy, but close enough to offer some comfort with his presence.

‘Hey there.’ Balthazar said; seeing Castiel’s eyes peeping out over Gabriel's shoulder and giving little wave. ‘I’m Balthazar, I’m an Angel like Gabriel here, and I’m in charge of the Station, where we are now.’

Cas’s eyes bore into Balthazar’s own and the man felt his stomach twist uncomfortably. It was always so difficult trying to explain this whole process to children.

‘I’m afraid you can’t go home anymore’ he said, attempting to soften his voice as his expression displays as much remorse as he can. ‘And right now, your heaven isn’t finished yet. So we can’t move you on to your new home just yet either.’

Blue eyes just blink at him.

‘You see...each person’s heaven is built up of memories and experiences they had whilst alive, and the people they shared it with. You return to the happiest moments in your life, so a lot of people will be younger in heaven than they were when they passed. But....’ and here he paused, unsure how to continue; already feeling that this explanation was too complicated and confusing for the four year old.  ‘Basically....because you weren’t meant to be here just now, you’re heaven won’t open itself up until the moment you were meant to pass. At least not without extreme meddling. And we can’t do that just yet. Especially as your age will change when you arrive –taking you to your supposed happiest, and moments will appear there which might confuse you, because even though you were meant to live the things you’ll see in your heaven....you didn’t. But the whole process can’t really adapt for that. It will presume you had those experiences anyway – a predestined plan so to speak. Anything you’d have had on earth, it will be in your heaven. And when people you love pass too...they can choose to either join you in your heaven....or go to their own, or intertwine the two. Am I making sense?’

Gabriel rolled his eyes. This sounded like a freaking manual, not something to comfort this little boy.

‘I think what he means kiddo.’ Gabriel interjected. ‘Is that we’re going to have to keep you here with us for a while, until we can sort out what to do with your heaven. Is that ok?’

Castiel sniffed and nodded his head once, before resting it down on Gabriel's shoulder; feeling tired and fed up and just a little bit unnerved.

‘Great. You have a little nap now then, and I’ll take you over to Michael to see if there isn’t something to be done about this whole mess.’

***

‘There must be something we can do.’ Castiel heard Gabriel say through the wall.

The room he was in was white again. Everything seemed white in this place. And very office like, at least from what Castiel could remember from his daddy’s office. It all seemed so neat and organised. Nothing fun around like games or toys, or those shiny doors you could see your reflection in. Nope. Just endless walls of white.

He was lying in a bed Gabe had created, doing what Balthazar had done and just snapping it there. He wasn’t yet sure how he felt about the angel’s magic, it seemed a little spooky just making things appear. But they hadn’t made bad things happen yet, and they _were_ angels...so they couldn’t be so bad, right? Right?

.Gabriel had gone next door with a tall dark haired man, the one he’d called Michael and then left him in this room alone, but Cas could still hear the voices perfectly clear. He wondered if maybe the walls of heaven were made of clouds like they were in his Sunday school picture books. Maybe that would explain why their talking sounded so loud.

‘There isn’t Brother you know there isn’t. And there is nothing we shall do either. He shall simply have to wait until his heaven is ready and can be opened.’

‘But he’s gonna miss out on his life, on everything he could have had. This mess-up stole that from him Michael can’t you see-‘

‘He won’t miss anything.’ Michael drawled. ‘He is nothing but a child. He is barely self aware. He can hardly miss something he never really had.’

‘He had four years of it-‘

‘And he’ll get more of it, _when his heaven is ready_. Until then, he waits.’

‘He deserves more than that Michael and you know it.’

‘You appear terribly attached to the boy Gabriel. Why so.... _sentimental?’_ There was no malice in his voice, but Castiel still felt unease ripple through him.

‘Because unlike you, _Brother,_ I appear to know right from wrong. You know what happens to mortals here. It’s not like their heaven. If he is anywhere but there he will age, Michael. He will age, alone in an isolated room with nothing and no one to experience his existence with. God only knows when we’ll be able to send him on. I won’t let him suffer like that. It is not fair, not _right_.’

‘If you wish to wait with him Brother, then you are more than welcome. It’s not like you have any work of your own. Delegating it to those lesser than you, as per – you never did like being a productive member of our society...too much like hard work for his holiness?’

‘Now that is bullshit and you know it. The whole reason I’m in this mess with the kid is because I was covering Anael’s shift. That’s pretty hard work now isn’t it?’

‘And what did she promise you? Money? Candy? Coitus? The gain of material goods should hardly be your concern when working here Gabriel. You should play your part, as any of us do, in servitude of our father.’

‘Yeah- Our Father, who art creating massive fuckups in the form of dead kids. We sure owe him a lot.’

There was the sound of skin hitting skin, and Castiel winced. Gabriel let out a pained sigh followed by a not so subtle slew of expletives.

‘I shall not tolerate your blasphemy’ Michael hissed. ‘If you are so worried about the child then do what you wish with him. By now you must know the limitations placed upon him, but, if you do find something useful for him to do, then I wish you well with it. Now kindly leave my chambers and take the child with you. Some of us have work to be doing, and don’t appreciate disruptions.’

***

Castiel hears the firm clip of Michael’s shoes as the other man storms away, but it takes Gabriela few minutes to return to the room in which he left the boy. When he does return however, there is a large red welt like mark stamped across his cheek. Castiel’s jaw drops and Gabriel quickly shushes the boy when he goes to speak.

‘Come on kiddo.’ He says, voice firm and Castiel’s mouth drops shut. ‘You’re coming with me now. And let’s see if we can’t fix something up for you.’

_***_

Gabriel led Castiel down a long sheet white corridor, doors at metre intervals, each with different symbols upon them, presumably labelling what lay within. Gabriel appeared to be looking for something in particular, though Castiel wasn’t sure what.

The doors seemed to go on for miles, and Castiel’s feet were beginning to tire.

‘Are we nearly there yet?’ Cas asked, tugging on the hand Gabriel had firmly linked with his own.  ‘My feet hurt.’

Gabriel rolled his eyes. ‘Hey, be thankful we healed your earth injuries. Otherwise you’d have really hurt.’

A flicker of hurt crossed the young boys face, and he made to pull his hand out of Gabriel's grasp. The angel sighed and kept his grip strong – Cas pouted.

‘I’m sorry buddy.’ Gabe said, tone apologetic. ‘Just a little longer. It’ll be worth it, I promise.’

Cas huffed, but kept on walking.

In the end, Gabriel was right. It wasn’t too much further, and when they finally go to the door, the sheer excitement on Gabriel's face was enough to spark up a little jolt of the emotion within Castiel too.

‘Here we go kiddo.’ Gabriel said. ‘Welcome, to paradise.’ And with that, he opened the door.

.

.

.

The plain white door led out into what Cas could only describe as the biggest garden he had ever seen.

Luscious green grass covered the ground, and a winding pebble path led straight to the most beautiful lake imaginable, fish skimming merrily across the surface as a humongous waterfall cascaded into the blue, creating bubbles the floated across, forming little trails the glinted in the sun. Trees outlined the rest of Castiel’s view, and even they were huge and stunning and utterly awe-inspiring. The little boy felt his jaw drop, and Gabriel just chuckled.

‘You can go play if you want.’ He said, removing his hand from Castiel’s and giving the boy a little push into the garden.  ‘Just don’t go too far. Make sure you can see me.’

Castiel’s head nodded like crazy, and within seconds he was off and running towards the lake and the fish he had seen there, forgetting all about his aching feet.

Gabriel shook his head and stepped into the garden himself, pulling the door shut as he went.

‘Joshua.’ He cried, loving the feel of the soft grass caressing his toes. ‘Come on out you old coot. I need to speak with you.’

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure what peoples thoughts are on this fic atm. What should ido about the update schedule etc? Let me know


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